Marked
by SaltyJak
Summary: The worst thing about a best friend is that they tend to notice even the subtlest of details... Not that bandages on one's neck are particularly subtle. Oneshot.


"Pssh..." The blonde girl seated on the couch in her friend's living room blew out a sigh through semi-pursed lips as she took out her phone and checked the time. "Yep, just about… Two-thirty." Heather remarked to herself quietly, turning her head to look at the aforementioned friend, who slept soundly, curled up on the couch next to her. "Hey, time to get up." She grabbed the redhead's right ankle, giving her leg a little tug and a shake.

"Mnh..." The twenty-one year old let out an uncharacteristically cute whine, pulling one of the couch's throw pillows over her head as she yanked her ankle out of the blonde's grasp. "Five more minutes..." She replied sleepily, the pillow muffling her voice.

"No, nuh-uh. Not gonna happen. Timmy's parents might not care if you're late, and _you_ might not care if you're late, either, but _I_ care too much about you as a friend to let you sit around and ruin your perfect babysitting attendance record, Vicky." The girl; Heather, a longtime(and pretty much _only_ ) friend of the practically infamous babysitter known as Victoria Valentine, spoke in a stern, yet friendly tone, again giving her best friend's ankle a quick little tug.

"Wow… That's a nice speech. Think I'll mull it over for a few minutes!" The redhead spoke in a cheery and _very_ sarcastic tone, her voice still muffled by the pillow she covered her head with.

"Okay, you asked for it!" Heather cracked her knuckles as she spoke, then reached for her friend's feet, the thin fabric of her black socks providing little protection for what the blue-eyed girl was about to do.

"Asked for wha-Aah!" Vicky yelped in surprise as she felt the girl rapidly drag her fingernails back and forth against the soles of her feet, the redhead immediately recoiling in shock and jumping up along the couch, sending her, pillow and all; careening over the arm and onto the floor, where she landed with an uncomfortable-sounding thud.

"You alright, Pumpkin?" The blonde twenty-one year old questioned disinterestedly as she snatched up the remote and changed the channel, paying no mind to her now fully-awake friend as she clumsily grabbed the arm of the couch and pulled herself to her feet.

"Oh yeah, just peachy." Vicky rubbed the back of her now sore head, her eyes just barely watering. "Anything good on?" She made her way around the arm of the couch, then between it and the coffee table, before finally sitting down and reclaiming the spot she'd been occupying.

"Eh… Nah." Heather tossed the remote onto the cushion that sat between her and Vicky, then leaned back to recline in her seat. "Mostly just been passing the time until I had to wake you. It's been quiet."

"Haugh..." The pink-eyed girl yawned, propping her legs up on the table and stretching them as she raised her arms up over her head to do the same with them, her joints audibly popping and cracking. "Ahh~… Well, Tootie should be here soon, she and Timmy take the same bus home."

"Hm… Y'know, since I'm keeping an eye on _your_ little sister… I mean, I'm essentially babysitting her, right?" Heather looked to her left at Vicky, a curious little smirk playing at her lips as she raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ha! Yeah, I know where this is going." The pink-eyed girl laughed humorlessly, rolling her eyes and tilting her head a little to the left in an attempt to get her stiff-feeling neck to crack. "You wanna get paid, take it up with my parents."

"Hehehe!" The blonde shook with subdued laughter, tossing her head back against the couch. "Ah… I'm only kidding, the fun Tootie and I have is payment enough-Hm…?" She cut her sentence short, noticing an area of skin on her best friend's neck that looked ever so _slightly_ darker than the surrounding, paler flesh.

"Okay, do I _want_ you to continue that sentence, Heather? I mean, exactly _what…_?" It was Vicky's turn to stop short as the girl next to her slowly leaned in, her curious blue eyes taking a noticeable interest in her neck. "Are… You…?" _"Oh crap…!"_ The redhead's right hand instantly shot up to self-consciously cover the side of her neck that had suddenly piqued her friend's interest. "Eheh… You-Ah… You're getting… Awfully close there, buddy..."

"Buddy…?" Heather snickered, flashing her teeth with a devious little grin as she pulled her legs up onto the couch and crawled over to Vicky on all fours. "What's that?" She nodded at the spot her friend covered with her hand.

"What?" The older of the two girls(though only by about a month) played dumb and turned her head toward the kitchen, a blank, confused expression on her face.

"Oh! And there's another one!" The blonde girl's hand shot out; index finger extended, and poked a spot nearer to the middle of her friend's neck, her fingertip settling on a distinctly smooth-feeling spot, a spot that _wasn't_ skin at all, but a small, capsule-shaped band-aid. "Cut yourself shaving-Ah-Heehee!"

The redhead quickly swatted her friend's hand away, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink in embarrassment. "A-Anyone ever tell you you're really nosy?!"

"Just you." Heather's devious grin widened knowingly as she spotted a _third_ band-aid on the girl's collarbone, just barely peeking out from under her lime-green t-shirt's somewhat low neckline. "And I figure that means I've got a reputation to live up to, so~… What's with the bandages, V?"

"N-Nothing is 'up' with them, I… Got bit by a… A spider, that's all!" Vicky lied through her teeth, the slight quiver in her voice easily giving her away, especially considering this was her best friend she was talking to.

"A spider, huh? And the bites were bad enough that you decided to cover them with bandages?" Heather narrowed her eyes at the pink-eyed girl, her grin not fading in the least.

"You should've seen the size of the spider…" Vicky glanced away evasively, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with her _very_ nosy friend. _"Someone get me a way out of here..."_

"Uh-Huh? That's interesting, actually. Mind letting me take a look at one of the bites?" The blonde crawled closer, forcing Vicky to shy away even more, to the point where she had to grasp the arm of the couch to keep from tumbling over it again.

"Um… I don't-… Th-There really isn't much p-point, since I'd just have to go up to the b-bathroom and put on a new band-aid..." The blushing girl's cheeks went from pink to a deep cherry red, her friend's rather _forward_ interest in her 'bites' flustering her more and more by the second. _"Really wish I had a distraction right about now..."_ Vicky blinked her eyes closed as she tried to quickly think up a convenient excuse to get out of this situation…

 _Ker-Chunk!_

Just then, the sound of the front door unlocking caused Heather to take pause, and Vicky's eyes to shoot open, both their gazes settling on the door as it was slowly pushed open, the sound of two voices; one male and one female, rising to their ears.

"Ugh! Just keep your head down and follow my lead, Chester! Assuming Vicky's even still here-" Vicky's fifteen year old younger sister, Tootie, stepped into the house, her friend Chester McBadbat lagging behind her on the porch.

The raven-haired girl wore black slip-on sneakers, similarly-colored thigh-high stockings, a grayish plaid skirt, a white button-up school shirt under a black vest, and her trademark purple horn-rimmed glasses, her hair done up in two long twintails, while Chester had foregone his olive-green blazer thanks to the warm weather, and wore simply a black t-shirt and blue jeans, his off-white sneakers faded, but not terribly worn quite yet. Both teenagers carried their backpacks and were now frozen still as statues upon seeing… _Whatever_ it was that Tootie's older sister and best friend were doing.

"Er… Are we… Interrupting something?" Tootie looked back and forth at Heather, whose rear-end was currently pointed at them as she held herself up on all fours on the couch, and Vicky, whose current posture made her look a bit like a cornered wild animal.

"Course not!" Heather beamed over her shoulder in greeting at the two teens, this in fact being the first time she'd met the blond boy standing next to Tootie. "I was just asking Vicky abou-"

"The shampoo I use!" The redhead quickly interjected, very nearly springing off the couch and to her feet. _"Maybe I should try wishing more often…!"_ Vicky thought to herself, feeling _immensely_ relieved by her younger sister's arrival. "Heather was-Er… Mentioning how she really liked the smell of it, and I was just telling her about how you picked it up, and here you are!"

Tootie again glanced back and forth between Heather and her older sister, Vicky's all-too-cheery tone leaving her _beyond_ confused, a feeling she mutually shared with Chester and the older blonde girl, if their expressions were anything to go by. "Eh… Yeah, that was me..." The bespectacled girl turned her attention back to her sister, the corners of her mouth drooping into a worried frown. "Vicky, are you… Feeling okay? You seem-"

"Yep, just peachy, Toots!" Vicky responded in a rushed tone as she slipped on her black sneakers and took out her phone, which indicated the time as two-forty-five. "Oh! Look at the time, I'd better get going if I'm gonna beat Timmy home!" The redhead bent down as she reached her little sister and planted a quick peck on her forehead, then snatched her keys off the key hook by the door as she moved past Tootie and Chester.

"Timmy?" Heather called after her best friend, the knowing grin that now annoyed Vicky to no end _still_ plastered across her face. "Don't you mean 'The Twerp', Vicky?"

The flustered redhead paused in her front doorway and spun around on her heel, her eyes glaring daggers at the girl sitting pretty on the couch. "N-No one likes a know-it-all, Heather!" With that, she spun back around in a huff and stomped down her front steps, then over to her car to yank the door open, before getting in and slamming it shut.

"Bye, Vicky! See you tonight!" Tootie peeked her head out the door and waved to her sister, watching as she started her car and peeled out of their house's driveway in reverse, then floored the accelerator and tore off down the street, her car's tires screeching loudly.

"Wow. That was definitely… Something?" The blond fifteen year old remarked in genuine bewilderment, his ex-babysitter's behavior making him empathize with Timmy even more, now that he'd seen firsthand how apparently _crazy_ she'd become.

"So!" Heather; having stealthily crept across the living room and up behind Chester, suddenly brought her hands down on the teen's shoulders, making her fellow blond jump and yelp in surprise.

"Wha-!" He flinched, feeling an uncomfortable chill run up his spine as this... _Woman_ he didn't know tightened her grip on his shoulders… And began to lightly _rub_ them, her right hand leaving his shoulder for just a moment to shut the front door, before returning to pick up where it had left off. "Um! Y-Yes…?" Chester tilted his head back to look up at the woman, the top of his head brushing against her chest.

"Tootie here tells me that last name of yours has got a bit of a bad luck streak attached to it, huh?" Heather offered the teen a sympathetic smile, which caused him to visibly calm down, a low chuckle escaping him.

"Heheh… Ah, yeah. My dad; Bucky McBadbat, kind of… Has the reputation of being the worst baseball player in history..." Chester answered somewhat self-consciously, wondering if this girl; who was evidently friends with Vicky, would poke fun at him much like _she_ used to.

"Mm. But _y'know…_ It's not _all_ bad." The older girl slowed her strokes of the teen's shoulders, her eyelids drooping so they were half-lidded as she continued to stare down at him. "Who's to say _you_ can't hit a home-run, huh?"

"You mean… Like in baseball?" Chester questioned bemusedly, tilting his head ever so slightly to the right.

 _Ker-Chunk!_

The sound of the front door re-locking caught the blond's attention, his blue eyes locking onto his raven-haired friend's violet ones as she turned away from the door to face him, her lips curling up into a more than 'just' friendly smile.

Heather bent down a little, her voice low and breath warm in Chester's ear. "Nah… Tootie and I had something… _Else_ , in mind…!"

 _A few minutes later…_

"Ugh… Thank goodness I got out of there..." Vicky butted her forehead against her car's steering wheel, the red sports car now parked in the Turners' driveway. Tilting her head back up, she pulled down the driver's side visor and tilted it to look at her reflection in the small mirror, specifically the reflection of her neck, which bore a bandage on each side, the one on the right side a few inches higher than the one on the left. "Yeah, way to be inconspicuous, Vicky..." She chastised herself, fixing her shirt collar to better hide the bandage on her collarbone as she pushed the visor back up and got out of her car. "Guess I could always hope that Heather forgets about them while she's hanging out with Toots and Blondie..." The redhead's slow stride up the front walk came to a halt. "Wait… Why _was_ Blondie there, anyway? Tootie never mentioned inviting him over…?" She crossed her arms, frowning in bemusement for a moment, only to shrug and make her way up the steps to the front door. "Eh, it's probably nothing." Vicky unlocked the door and let herself in, another wave of relief washing over her now that she'd arrived at her home away from home. "Hello? Anyone here?"

She called out to the rest of the house, despite knowing that, with Timmy's parents' car being absent from the driveway, the only person who _could_ possibly be home was Timmy himself.

There was no response; the house quiet, save for the light breeze flowing in through the ajar front door, which the twenty-one yer old promptly closed. "Guess I beat him here." Another shrug, followed by Vicky kicking off her sneakers and leaving them by the door, her legs slowly carrying her across the living room until she reached the couch, which she immediately flopped down and stretched out on, her right arm bent behind her head as a makeshift pillow, while her left grabbed the remote to turn the TV on.

Yet unbeknownst to Vicky, her charge had _indeed_ beaten her to his house, and now slowly rose from behind the couch to peek over the back of it, his rich brunet locks of hair and bright blue eyes being the only visible part of him, for the moment.

Quietly, Timmy pulled himself to his feet and stared down at his babysitter, his eyes taking in every inch of her slender, yet curvy form. Her black jeans fit her rather snugly, hugging every curve of her hips and legs perfectly, and her lime-green t-shirt exposed just the first few inches of her midsection, the skin a pale, cream color. He leaned in a bit more, propping his head up in his hand as his gaze traced its way up her left arm and over her shoulder, eventually settling on her neck, and the small, tan-colored band-aid.

"Admiring the view, Twerp?!" With inhuman speed and reflexes, Vicky dropped the remote and sat up, her left arm darting out and wrapping around the back of her charge's neck, effectively trapping the teen in a headlock, which in turn allowed her to pull him forward, his upper torso now hanging over the back of the couch.

"Ack-Heehee!" Yet it was not a cry of terror or fear that escaped Timmy, but one of surprise, soon followed by giggles as he half-heartedly struggled in his babysitter's grip, his right cheek brushing up against the older girl's left breast as he squirmed and wriggled ineffectually. "Y-You hear like a bat!"

"I know. I _am_ pretty awesome." Vicky remarked in an aloof, confident tone, using the leverage her arm provided to pull the brunet the rest of the way over the back of the couch, before easing him into lying across her lap. "I also see like a hawk-" The redhead cut herself off as she felt the fifteen year old occupying her lap snake his left arm around her back in an awkward little hug, then press his face partially against her chest and inhale.

"And you smell like victory..." Timmy trailed off dreamily, his remark causing the older girl's face to instantly darken to cherry red once more.

"What the-?! You…!" For a moment, the redhead was left speechless, her mouth opening to voice a retort, only to close a second later as she rolled her eyes to look at nothing in particular. "A-Anyone ever tell you y-you're an idiot?"

"Just you." The teen remarked matter-of-factly as he slid out of Vicky's lap and took up residence on the cushion next to her, reorienting himself to sit cross-legged. "So… Bandages, huh?"

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes again, then tipped over to lie back down on the couch, this time laying her legs across the brunet's lap. "I _thought_ they'd be more… Inconspicuous."

"Well… Considering what they're covering up, they _sort of_ are..." Timmy gently lifted his babysitter's legs off his own and moved back to make some room before setting them back down. "But y'know..." The teen dropped down onto his hands and knees and slowly crawled up along the couch over the older girl, who in turn rolled over onto her back, her right eyebrow raised in intrigue. "I don't remember hearing you complain..." With his face now mere inches above hers, Timmy dipped low to gently brush his nose against Vicky's. "When I put those there..." At last, he closed the distance between them, planting a slow, lingering kiss on the redhead's lips.

"Mhm..." Vicky hummed in amusement at the brunet's confident tone and actions; he'd eased into the role of her boyfriend rather well. "Heh..." She began as he pulled away. "You're just _so_ ecstatic that you bagged your hot babysitter, aren't you, Timmy?"

" _No_ , I'm ecstatic that I bagged my _beautiful_ babysitter, Vicky." Timmy corrected the girl, prompting her to bring her right hand up to her face and pinch the bridge of her nose in a lame attempt to cover up the bright pink blush blooming across her cheeks. "Who's also pretty adorable when she's embarrassed-!"

"W-Would you s-stop?!" The redhead snapped playfully, though she didn't appreciate Timmy's attempts to get her all flustered. They were simply working too well. "If I could r-reach a pillow right now I'd hit you-Ngh!" She cut herself off, unintentionally moaning and biting her lower lip as she felt the teen press his lips to her neck, the contact making her shudder with delight. "Y-You're buying me a box of band-aids tomorrow, Twerp..."

 _"Deal."_ Timmy grinned against Vicky's neck, his hand slowly trailing up her stomach as he felt her begin to tug at and lift the hem of his shirt...


End file.
